We all know about Bishop Pete's extremely unpastoral and inaccurate use of the teachings of Vatican II to gain control over his priests' liturgies.
I am not opposed to bishops as the primary liturgist of the diocese; I am opposed to inconsistencies in that role that allow for some really egregious liturgical abuses but not for sound, traditional practices that are certainly allowed in the Ordinary Form Mass or where not mentioned, are done in continuity with what is mandated in the Extraordinary Form, and are not egregious abuses by any stretch of the imagination.
So, as a virtual, on-line "pope" this is what I pontificate for the world's parishes for the Ordinary Form Mass:
1. Rubrics will clearly state how the Mass will be celebrated either facing the laity or not. It will be the pastor's choice when this will be done. There should be consistency in which Mass is ad orientem and which one isn't. Parochial Vicars, assisting and/or visiting priests are to follow the pastor's determination as to the direction of the Mass
2. Standing or Kneeling for Holy Communion will be determined by the communicant. It is recommended that altar railings be restore and/or used. Communicants line up at the railing choosing to stand or kneel. All receive on the tongue, no longer in the hand. Where altar railings do not exist, churches should be renovated to restore them. Until then, a kneeler for those who wish to kneel is to be present.
3. Rubrics for the use of the pall will now be recovered from the Extraordinary Form of the Mass as well as the use of the Chalice Veil and Burse.
4. When celebrating Mass ad orientem, the rubrics for the EF Mass are to be followed, meaning that each time the priest turns to the laity, he first kisses the altar.
5. Two forms of the Introductory Rite will now be allowed in the Ordinary Form:
Form A is as is currently.
Form B is to follow the plan for the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar in the EF Mass and under its guidelines, spoken aloud at a Spoken Mass and done silently when the Mass is sung, especially the Introit. This will lead to a return to the Order of the Introductory Rite's Order as in the EF Mass, i.e. PATFOTA, Kyrie, Gloria, Greeting, Collect.
6. The Introit, Offertory Antiphon and Communion Antiphons are never to be omitted and the Introit will follow the plan of the EF Mass Introit.
4 comments:
Sounds reasonable to me as the other way is clearly not working. There are instances of parishes implementing ad orientem and have experienced a renaissance as a result. And, really, what is there to "see" aside from the elevations? I suppose the hearing impaired could try to read lips but, at a certain distance, I cannot see how this is realistic particularly where there isn't a predella.
ByzRC,
Could not agree more. My little country Church has a new pastor, a 32 year old farm boy, who was trained to say the TLM. The first thing he did was put a frontal on the altar and used the Benedictine arrangement. Presto chango. This simple little Church all of a sudden resembled a Catholic Church. He then began to use only the Roman Canon on Sundays and introduced the propers. Once a month he celebrates the TLM. The Church is now growing and its mainly young people. He has introduced ad orientem for the weekday Masses but I suspect Sunday Mass will also be ad orientem, for at least one of the Sunday Masses soon. Yet we have double-knit dinosaurs who are sticking with the old "Tried and Failed" approach. I suspect it is either through arrogance, laziness or both.
Sounds good. The only change I'd make is ad orientem would be mandated, and where it is not possible, the benedictine arrangement must be used.
Kissing the altar before turning to the people is in the Tridentine Rite, but interestingly not in the Dominican, which is a Use of the Roman Rite. We can conclude that it isn't that important.
As I understand it, the main objection to the Penitential Act in the NO is the shared Confiteor, which is an innovation. The Dominican Use has a very short Confiteor (even shorter than the NO version, with only one mea culpa) but it is said first by the priest and then by the ministers or server. The PATFOTA are also shorter (there's no Ps 42, for example). I don't see the point of tacking the very lengthy Tridentine PATFOTA onto the NO which is not after all the Tridentine rite.
The use of pall, chalice veil and burse is not confined to the EF. Some years ago I watched a priest at Nottingham cathedral spend some minutes trying to extract a fly from the chalice. Presumably he thought use of the pall was untrendy.
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